1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable electric vacuum cleaner.
2. Description of Related Art
Electric vacuum cleaners conventionally used include portable electric vacuum cleaners. Such a portable electric vacuum cleaner is generally called “handy cleaner”, which is used for performing a cleaning operation while manually lifting and carrying a body of the cleaner. With the use of the portable vacuum cleaner, a user can easily clean the upper surfaces of a desk and a shelf, the inside of a car and other places which are difficult to clean by using an ordinary vacuum cleaner. Exemplary portable electric vacuum cleaners of this type are disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-346972 (1999), Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 7-57214 (1995) and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-276942 (1998).
The portable electric vacuum cleaner disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-346972 includes a suction port member as a floor brush and a crevice tool as a suction nozzle, either of which is attached to a body of the cleaner for cleaning a floor and a crevice.
In this portable electric vacuum cleaner, however, the suction port member and the crevice tool are selectively attached to the cleaner body. Therefore, the crevice tool is liable to be missing particularly when the suction port member is attached to the cleaner body.
The portable electric vacuum cleaner disclosed in Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 7-57214 includes a dust suction port provided in a front end portion of a dust collection case connected to a cleaner body thereof for sucking dust. Thus, the dust is sucked through the suction port.
In this portable electric vacuum cleaner, however, since the suction port is provided in the front end portion of the dust collection case, the front end portion of the dust collection case should be tapered toward the front end of the dust collection case for sucking dust through the suction port. This imposes limitations on the design of the portable electric vacuum cleaner.
The portable electric vacuum cleaner disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-276942 includes a leg and a handle provided at a rear end of a cleaner body thereof and hence can be kept in a self-standing state with its leg and handle in contact with a floor surface. Thus, space saving can be achieved.
However, this portable electric vacuum cleaner should be lifted and inverted by holding the handle for performing a cleaning operation, because the portable electric vacuum cleaner is in the self-standing state with its handle in contact with the floor surface. Therefore, the handling of the portable electric vacuum cleaner is troublesome.